Jannik Sinner hilariously opened up about the filming of his part for the Six Kings Slam trailer. The reigning World No. 1’s comic admission came after he triumphed at the high-profile exhibition event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The inaugural edition of the Six Kings Slam saw Sinner contest the exhibition tournament, which also featured Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Holger Rune. A few weeks ahead of the event, its trailer surfaced, portraying players as warrior-like figures. In the trailer, Sinner donned an attire resembling Renaissance-era fashion.
When the event kicked off on Wednesday, October 16, a giant horizontal billboard could be seen at the venue, which consisted of a still featuring the name of the event and the players, wearing the outfits that they had donned for filming the trailer. Sinner himself was in the extreme right.
On Saturday, October 19, Jannik Sinner defeated Carlos Alcaraz 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-3 to win the Six Kings Slam. After his victory, the Italian gave an on-court interview to DAZN, during which he talked about how he was the only one among the players to look sweaty on the billboard. According to the reigning Australian Open and US Open champion, this was due to the filming location being extremely hot.
“So if you watch the details, I’m the only one who is sweating, and I’ll tell you the story now. So we have been there and this was kind of structure, obviously much smaller and it was so hot and we made it before Wimbledon and it was so hot. As you can see I was sweating all the time,” Jannik Sinner said.
The World No. 1 also shared how a fan was placed right in front of his face while the filming was going on. He added:
“You know, the hair went up like this because there was a fan straight in my face. So it was exhausting but it was also so much fun. It was quite an experience. It was amazing.”
With the Six Kings Slam final win, Sinner became the player to earn the highest-ever prize money from a single tennis tournament.
The Six Kings Slam was an exhibition event, but astonishingly, the prize money on offer was the most lucrative ever in tennis history. Each participating player received $1.5 million simply for turning up at the tournament, while champion Jannik Sinner bagged an additional $6 million for winning it.
The Italian’s opening encounter at the event came against Daniil Medvedev. The Russian was no match for Sinner’s power-packed shots from the baseline, and the World No. 1 won 6-0, 6-3.
Sinner’s victory against Medvedev helped him set up a clash against Novak Djokovic in the semifinal. Sinner’s semifinal showdown against the Serb was a tight affair, with the match going to a decisive third set after the pair had shared the spoils across the first two sets. Ultimately though, it was Jannik Sinner who prevailed with a 6-2, 6-7(0), 6-4 win.